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A fantastic candle! Very highly recommended :)

Yankee Candle Napa Valley Sun

I love yankee candle samplers, they are great for trying a lot of different yankee candle scent - which is prefect if you do not know which scent you will like. I have tried quite a few samplers now and this is one is part of Yankee candles newest limited edition line/collection, the wine collection.

- About the candle

The candle is 49g, like all samplers, and it is a dark creamy yellow colour. The packaging is just the clear plastic wrapping that samplers come in and it has an image on the front of a sunset/rise which looks really nice and because of the images on the front and the high quality of these samplers I think they would make nice little presents or stocking fillers. This candle is part of the new wine collection of candles - the limited edition collection also includes the scents: 'Vineyard' and 'Grape and oak'.

- Scent

The scent of this sampler when it is not burning is that of a musky vanilla scent, it smells a bit like vanilla Potpourri. This scent is not usually one that I would buy but it is really nice, it makes a change to all of the floral scents I buy. Also as the scent is musky and vanilla like, it makes a nice fairly christmasy scent too - a non traditional christmasy scent. The scent of the sample when it is not burning is fairly strong but not like some of the other samplers I have. The scent reminds me of baking vanilla muffins, but it is a fairly musky scent too. This scent is described as: "The warm, fruity medley of rich grapes, sunny citrus and juicy plums". I would not really describe this scent as fruity but there is a hint of green grape freshness and maybe plum with this candle but to me the main scent smells like vanilla.

- Scent dispersion and burn time

After lighting the candle with a normal cooking match, I being to notice the scent fully after about twenty minutes of the candle burning next to me - which is a fairly long time to disperse and the candle was less than one meter away. The sampler does take a while for the scent is disperse around the room fully, but when the scent is fully dispersed it smells really nice. The scent to me smells mainly of vanilla and it has a musky undertone too, the scent while it is burning is very similar to the scent of the sampler when it is not burning. Although while the candle is burning the scent is not very strong, unlike some of the other yankee candle samplers I have tried, which is a bit disappointing as the scent is really nice. Overall, the scent does not disperse very quickly but it does disperse after about half and hour or so. The burn time for this sampler is similar to the other samplers I have tried - it burns for a total of about ten hours, maybe eleven hours.

- Overall

Overall, I would not agree with the scent description of the candle as in my opinion the main scent is of vanilla, for me anyway, not plum, grape and citrus. The candle smells really nice and it burns for about ten to eleven hours in total, which is great. This candle is a limited edition so it will only be available for a limited period of time. The only disappointing point about this sampler is that the scent is not as strong as I would have liked it to be.

- Price and availability

This candle cost me £1.45 on ebay with £1 for postage so it was £2.45 in total. This candle is limited edition along with two other scents. This scent can be bought from ebay, yankeedirect.com, Amazon.co.uk and play.com.

Conclusions

Positives

*Really nice scent - of vanilla to me with a musky undertones and a hint of green grape freshness*Burns for about ten to eleven hours*Nice packaging, which makes the samplers in my opinion a great stocking filler or small gift

Negatives

*Scent is not as strong as I would have liked it to be *Limited edition scent - wine collection

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A new grape scent for 2011 that sparkles with warmth, sweetness & creamy freshness!

A couple of weeks ago I decided to stray away from one of the best trusted sites online for Yankee Candle products, simply because I found that the newest one (Yankeedirect.com) could replenish me with the latest scents from Yankee Candle quickly rather than wait a couple of weeks for the same scented products to arrive at UK websites. One out of the four wax tarts that I purchased was a new mild pastel yellow tart that caught my eye - it's called "Napa Valley Sun," or "Napa Valley Harvest" (from the U.S books) and is supposed to promote the season after summer, following September and the autumn harvesting of grapes. No wonder then Yankee Candle claim that this candle is supposed to have..."a warm, fruity medley of rich grapes, sunny citrus and juicy plums..."

When I first unwrapped the wax tart and smelt the top and bottom of the wax, it was fairly new but reminiscent of several Yankee Candle scented candles that have been done before, namely "White Zinfandel," that appeared in 2007 and then went out of production. As memory serves me correctly having bought the scented candle for a friend, the scent was a strict limited glass jar edition only and instead of the thick glass tops adorning the country style glass jars, you got an airtight sealed block of polished wood to mark the occasion. Here, it is slightly disappointing that whilst Yankee Candle haven't revisited the style of wooden topped candle products, they have strived to offer a similar scent for those who loved the "White Zinfandel" scent the first time around, but with a few changes that makes the latter candle a rarity amongst Yankee Candle fans & collectors.

The first tone that comes off this candle is a wonderfully thick wave of citrus orange, tangerines and mandarins wrapped in the second tone of thick and creamy vanilla, added with a hint of buttermilk but without being overly sweet. When the wax tart burns, it only takes minutes for the desired room to become alive with the scent of white wine/ "white" Zinfandel grapes - the base tone - giving the whole product an overly sweet sensation tied in with expectant but welcoming freshness which doesn't drown out the fruity additives. This is an aspect that Yankee Candle have had problems with before, but I feel that Napa Valley Sun has an equal pouring of citrus with the grape/wine smell on offer and the candle is certain to please sweet scented candle fans or those who don't like the spicy, cinnamon candles. Napa Valley Sun/Harvest sparkles with warmth, sweetness & creamy freshness!

In terms of strength, well the usual Yankee Candle wax tart formats all have a burn duration of 8 hours before the scent dies out. Largely I'd say this was true of Napa Valley Sun. I found that the wax tart only needs to be lit for an hour a day to allow the sweet and strong scent to pervade the home and once it is placed in a burner and melts down, changes its colour from mild pastel yellow to a clear yellow steaming oil. This scented candle isn't for the faint hearted and by the third and fourth day I found myself unusually burning the wax tart for half an hour at most without the need to leave the tealight candle lit. By the seventh day, the wax tart started to lose its potency, only able to freshen the air with the hint of vanilla cream and grape - no bad thing - but rather welcoming even though the scent was clearly on its way out.

Of late, unlike a few wax tarts of different scents I've purchased, Napa Valley Sun is very strong and long lasting. After the tealight candle was initially extinguished, several rooms smelt of sweet grapes and creamy vanilla in the air for a couple of hours. The candle is exceptional for masking odours too, covering up strong tobacco and even just releasing freshness to the air, if the air in your home or desired room where the hot oil burner will sit, has stale air. It isn't a scent that will appeal to everyone, but this is one reason alone to why Yankee Candle have 150 or so many different scents available for buyers with different specialist tastes.

Where value is concerned with prices of single tarts at £1-05 to £1-10 and the known burn time duration, I'd say Napa Valley Sun certainly stays true to its word, and on the basis that it has strength on its side, a 2 week burn time is possible given that it only needs half an hour for total freshness explosion before its time is truly up!

If you have read any of my Yankee Candle reviews before, then you'll know that my favourite cost effective and top value version of scented candle is the wax tart format. This is so called simply because it is round and deeply fluted and looks like an edible tart even though it is made out of wax and not designed to be consumed. The wax tart by Yankee Candle is as famous as any one of their other formats from votive candles to "housewarmer" glass jars that lend a country look to a home as well as being infinitely useful after the wax has finished due to its peel able labels and airtight glass tops, making the jars very suitable as food product storage jars - or anything infact that you want to have on display. The only downside to the wax tart is that it doesn't have a built in wick and you'll need an additional hot oil/deep concave potpourri oil burner to use the wax tart with an additional tealight candle underneath to support the melting process.

Even with this novel way of using hot wax, you have to maintain safety and logic at all times - and you may find that the oil burner gets hot on the base as well as the top making it unsuitable to be moved around and to avoid surfaces being burnt, always use a heat proof coaster to keep the burner balanced and heat insulated. Removing the candle is easy though - once the hot oil burner has cooled down, take out the tealight candle and insert the whole burner into a freezer for a minimum of 15 minutes or 30 minutes in a fridge. Afterwards tip the burner over and with a slight tap to the top, the wax tart should fall out easily. This is a much better procedure than pouring hot oil down a drain since it can block drains, or into a kitchen towel which can burn through and spoil work surfaces etc. Always sniff the base of the candle though when it falls out - if you can still smell scent - then the candle still has life in it to burn the next time around when you choose to burn the candle.

Where costs are concerned, prices and other formats are given on average before 25% discounts if the scent is "season of the month," and usually the discounts are only available at local shops like Clinton Cards, Debenhams and House of Fraser's, although it is always best to check with the seller concerned - I tend to shop for my candles locally or source online for the best prices and "Napa Valley Sun" being so new, is only available in the following ranges - the reed diffuser and scented powders for example are as yet, not available - but at least as you can see, there are many other versions worth considering to fit your budget. Online I use sellers from EBay, www.yankeedirect.com and www.yankeedoodle.co.uk

I'm really taken with "Napa Valley Sun/Harvest," and in many ways reminds me of "White Zinfandel," that sits very close to this scent - but does without the strawberry fizziness of the original. I'm not a fan of overly sweet candles with only a few scents that stand out that are worth the money amidst my love for spicy candle scents or fresh washing powder scents like "Clean Cotton," or "Fluffy Warm Towels," and Napa Valley Sun for all that it is sweet and strong makes this scent worth checking out if you want a candle to relax to, or have burning away in the background, if you have friends around.